Business & Economy

Sao Paulo Fashion Week pays homage to homeless with “herbal bath”

Sao Paulo, Brazil, May 24 (EFE).- An herbal bath, the cheerful rhythms of axé music and social inclusion were the elements that fashion designer Isa Silva brought to the catwalk on Wednesday to pay tribute to the homeless in highlighting her new collection for Fashion Week in Sao Paulo.

The “Banho de Axé” collection fashion parade, featuring the Isaac Silva brand, was held at the 9 de Julho Occupation building to honor the leader of the Downtown Homeless Movement (MSTC), Carmen Silva, with numbers by black artist and activist Luedji Luna as the soundtrack to the event.

The 2021 Latin Grammy nominee and singer-songwriter’s “Banho de Folhas” along with prints by plastic artist Heloisa Ariadne were key elements in Isaac Silva’s seventh showing at “Sao Paulo Fashion Week,” the main fashion event of its kind in Brazil.

“With a handful of sacred leaves, to heal, to ward off evil” was the theme for the parade that brought together professional models and ordinary people, well-known artists such as funk singer Jojo Todynho and some of the participants of the local version of “Big Brother.”

Carmen Silva, the symbol of the struggle for housing in Brazil’s largest city, was another of those who stepped along the catwalk sprinkled with leaves of the herb rue and other plant materials used in African religious rituals.

“It’s good to bathe with herbs, pray, ask and be thankful, but after that, what clothes do we cover our body with?” Isaac Silva said in a statement to explain the “ecologically conscious and humanized” fashion line and theme of the show.

For the show, designer and LGBTQIAP+ activist and creative director Neon Cunha put the emphasis on “assertive fashion” for “different body types,” complementing that idea with handmade accessories made from recycled materials.

The Linus brand sandals displayed at the show, for instance, were made with the help of Quilombola artisans, as the settlements of slave descendants are called, from the city of Sao Lourenco de Goiania, in northeastern Pernambuco state.

The 55th edition of Sao Paulo Fashion Week, which will run through Sunday at different venues in the city under the moniker “Origens/Ressignificar,” pays homage to identity and human beings as a creative collective.

EFE wgm/cm/bp

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